Coll Mailing List.
A RootsWeb mailing list is available to everyone interested in the genealogy or history of the Isle of Coll. To register as a subscriber (it is free and safe) send an email to
SCT-ARG-COLL-L-request@rootsweb.com
with the single word subscribe in the subject and message fields. After you register you will receive all messages posted to the list. As a subscriber you can seek help with your family research, help others with their research, ask questions, initiate or participate in discussions, or just listen.
It is recommended that you also consider subscribing to the Tiree Mailing List. Tiree is the near neighbour of Coll (the two islands are separated only by the narrow Gunna Strait) and had close family ties with Coll. To subscribe to the Tiree list, send an email to
SCT-ARL-TIREE-L-request@rootsweb.com
with the single word subscribe in the subject and message fields.

About copyright.
Everything on the website is provided freely in the interests of genealogical research. It is all protected by copyright, so any content, including webpages, articles, spreadsheets, lists and photos, must not be copied and reproduced in other publications without the consent of the author(s) and the website administrators. Copying for personal research or study is permitted. If you use information from the website in your own writings it would be appreciated if you could acknowledge the author(s) and source.

About this website
On this website there are a number of pages, reached by clicking on the blue links, giving information contributed by people with an interest in genealogy and the history of the Isle of Coll. It shares some pages with its 'twin' website, Isle of Tiree Genealogy. New contributions are welcome at any time.

Searchable indexes of Coll baptisms 1776-1855 (with later entries also recording the date of birth), and Coll marriages 1776-1855 (Microsoft Excel or Excel Viewer is required to download and search the indexes).

Detailed records of ancestors and descendants of Coll and Tiree families from early times to their expansion in Coll and Tiree, and their further expansion in North America after the mass emigrations of the 1800s. The records include those of the McPhadens of Coll and Tiree, and the Macleans of Tiree.

An account of the life and times of John Macdonald who emigrated with his family from Tiree to Australia in 1853. The account includes a description of life on board immigrant ships to Australia in the 1850s.

A list of some common forenames in old parish registers or census returns that may be recorded differently in later Scots or overseas documents, sush as the forename recorded as Marion in Scotland but as Sarah outside Scotland.

About the Isle of Coll

Clabhach, Isle of Coll
(photo by John MacFadyen, 2009)

The Isle of Coll, situated north-east of Tiree and separated from it by the narrow Gunna Sound, is similar in size to Tiree but it is much more rugged, with numerous hills and a rocky coastline with occasional beaches. The island's population peaked at about 1,500 in the 1840s and today is less than 200. As was the case in in Tiree and the other Western Isles, many of its people were encouraged or coerced to emigrate in the 1840s and 1850s to mainland Britain or to distant British colonies in Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.

The early history of Coll was similar to that of Tiree: it was part of the Celtic Kingdom of Dalriada; then came under Viking control; and then under the control of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles who ceded both islands to their allies, the MacLeans. The central and principal part of the island was granted by King James II to John Garve (Iain Garbh), first laird of Coll and ancestor of MacLean of Coll. In 1674 the two extremities of the island were acquired by the Earl of Argyll, along with other MacLean of Duart lands in Tiree and Mull, but in the 1800s the Coll lands were sold by the Argyll family to other proprietors and are no longer part of the estate of the Duke of Argyll.